5 Classroom-Tested Chemistry Escape Rooms Your Students Will Beg to Play

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after years of teaching chemistry, it’s this:

Students will do anything—and I mean anything—if you frame it as a game.

Seriously. You can put the exact same concepts you’d normally put on a worksheet inside an envelope labeled “TOP SECRET,” and suddenly every teenager in the room becomes a CIA agent with a sharpened pencil.

That’s why chemistry escape rooms have become one of my favorite ways to review, reteach, or just shake up a lesson when the energy in the room needs a boost. They get students moving, talking, thinking, and applying chemistry in context—not just filling in blanks.

And unlike many escape rooms floating around the internet, he ones I use are not filler puzzles. No word searches. No fluff. No random codes that have nothing to do with the lesson. Every lock, clue, cipher, and puzzle is directly tied to the chemistry itself—so students aren’t just escaping a room; they’re escaping with actual content knowledge.

Why Chemistry Escape Rooms Work So Well

Besides the fact that students LOVE puzzles (and teachers love a quiet room filled with productive chatter), escape rooms:

1. Turn abstract chemistry concepts into hands-on experiences

2. Boost collaboration and academic conversation

3. Promote critical thinking and problem-solving

4. Work beautifully as sub plans

5. Can be used as stations, end-of-unit challenges, or even formative assessments

6. Support NGSS science practices (patterns, modeling, argumentation, and problem-solving)

   
   

Below is a list of my most popular, classroom-tested chemistry escape rooms—each designed to reinforce one major chemistry topic through immersive, story-based puzzles.

1. FIND THE ELEMENT – Periodic Table Escape Room

If you want a high-engagement way to review periodic table properties, this one is pure gold.

In this escape room, students work as agents for BoRe – the Bureau of Rogue Elements, tracking down a dangerous member of the Mendeleev Secret Society. Their job? Gather evidence, solve puzzles, and identify the unknown element.

While completing the three missions, students naturally learn:

• Electrical conductivity trends

• Melting/boiling points and physical states

• Interpreting chemical notation

• Counting subatomic particles

• Valence electrons & ion charges

  
  

And the best part? No lockboxes or fancy tech required. Students complete an evidence report, check in with you, and advance to the next mission.

Get the Find the Elements Escape Room

Best for:

• Introducing periodic table trends

• Revision after a periodic table unit

• An inductive learning experience paired with your Trends in the Periodic Table resource

Teachers love this one because it feels like a spy mission—but it’s secretly a structured, standards-aligned review of periodicity.

Related: How I teach the Periodic Table Using an Escape Room

2. THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF DR. MORTIS – Measurements & Significant Figures

This one is my absolute favorite to use in October… but honestly, it works all year long.

Students enter the spooky laboratory of Dr. Mortis, where six eerie puzzles await:

• Cursed Symbols – Lab Safety

• Cauldrons of Displacement – Volume by displacement

• Labyrinth of Lost Measures – Significant figures

• The Alchemist’s Safe – Calculations with sig figs

• The Ghost’s Numbers – Scientific Notation Tarsia Puzzle

• The Dimensional Door – Unit conversions & dimensional analysis

  
  

Each puzzle can stand alone—or you can combine all six for a full escape room experience.

Get The Measurements and Significant Figures Escape Room

Everything is print-and-play. No props. No tech. No fake blood ( unless you want that) or jump scares. Just beautifully contextual chemistry practice disguised inside a spooky adventure.

Best for:

• October science lessons

• Anytime your students need measurement & sig figs review

• Sub plans

• Stations or rotations in a measurement unit

If your students normally groan at sig figs… they won’t with this.

3. THE CAPTAIN’S LOST TREASURE – Ionic & Covalent Bonding

Need an unforgettable way to review chemical bonding?

Welcome to Bond Island, where students follow the legendary Captain’s map through six hands-on puzzles:

• Valence electron practice

• Ionic vs covalent compound identification

• Naming & writing formulas

• Building ionic compounds

• Lewis structures

• Properties of compounds

Get the Ionic and Covalent Bonding Escape Room

This escape room is extremely hands-on. Students cut, sort, build, decode, and map their way through bonding concepts—nothing is passive.

Use the pirate storyline for full immersion, or keep it straightforward by skipping the narrative. Either way, students stay locked in (pun intended).

Best for:

• Reviewing before a bonding test

• Small-group collaboration

• Sub plans

• Unit wrap-up or bonding stations

  
  
  
  

4. CHEMISTRY IN THE ENCHANTED REALM – Chemical Reactions & Equations

(My absolute favorite — because who doesn’t want to teach chemistry through classic fairy tales?)

If you’ve ever wished you could blend literacy, storytelling, and chemistry into one magical lesson… this escape room is your moment.

Chemistry in the Enchanted Realm is built around classic fairy tales, reimagined as chemistry challenges inside Merlin’s Book of Elements.

Each puzzle feels like stepping into a storybook—except the happily ever after depends on your students’ ability to count atoms and balance equations.

This escape room covers:

• Counting atoms

• Writing and naming compounds

• Classifying reaction types

• Balancing chemical equations

• Decoding ciphers using logic and patterns

  
  

Students journey through six immersive, story-based puzzles:

• Forest of Mirrors – Match compound names & formulas

• The Ones That Lie – Identify atom-counting errors

• Confectioner’s Test – Classify types of chemical reactions

• Broken Walls – Reconstruct equations & decipher Pigpen code

• Builder’s Blueprint – Balance equations with magic squares

• Red Path Cipher – Decode the final message with a Caesar cipher wheel

  
  

It’s whimsical enough for middle school, rigorous enough for high school, and hands-down one of the most creative ways to teach chemical reactions.

Best for:

• Reinforcing reaction types and balancing

• Story-based learning lovers

• NGSS-aligned stations or group challenges

• Bringing a little magic back into chemistry class

If your students enjoy fantasy or classic fairy tales, this escape room hits that sweet spot between imagination and academics. No wonder it’s your favorite — it’s truly one-of-a-kind.

Learn more about Chemistry in the Enchanted Realm here

5. ESCAPE THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN MOLE – Moles & Stoichiometry

If there’s one topic students universally fear, it’s moles and stoichiometry. That’s why I turned it into an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones.

Students enter the Temple of the Golden Mole, where five alchemical trials await:

1. Trial of the Guardians – Identify elements using atomic numbers

2. Scale of the Guardians – Convert mass, volume, and particles to moles

3. Scroll of Flames – Balance sacred equations

4. Broken Tablet of Trials – Reassemble a jigsaw + solve stoichiometry

5. Chamber of Hidden Glyphs – Use chemistry problems to decode a message

   
   

This escape room is rigorous—and students still don’t want it to end.

Best for:

• Review before a stoichiometry test

• Reinforcing mole calculations

• After teaching conversions (mass↔mole↔volume↔particles)

• End-of-unit challenge

Your students will honestly forget they’re practicing stoichiometry.

Get the Moles and Stoichiometry Escape Room

Final Thoughts: Why Escape Rooms Belong in Every Chemistry Classroom

Chemistry escape rooms create a kind of magic you don’t get from worksheets:

1. Students talk about chemistry.

2. They apply concepts in real time.

3. They problem-solve naturally.

4. They take ownership of their learning.

5. They remember what they learned—because they experienced it.

Whether you’re teaching the periodic table, sig figs, chemical reactions, bonding, or stoichiometry, an escape room can instantly transform your lesson into something memorable.

If you’re looking for high-quality, story-driven, NGSS-aligned chemistry escape rooms, feel free to explore the ones above. Each one was designed to be rigorous and ridiculously fun—exactly the kind of learning experience our students deserve.

If you want them all I have then as part of a bundle with a discount, you can check that out HERE!